How the Bluebird Got Away

by Graham Denton

A "bluebird" is one of those leads that sells itself -- a prospect so eager, and a need so perfectly matched to your product or service that all you have to do is sit back and watch him or her sign. It's the no-brainer lead with the guaranteed commission.

There's a catch, though, and it's largely a matter of attitude. Even a bluebird lead has to be managed toward the close, and that takes the same kind of attention to detail that managing any other lead takes. If you approach a bluebird as if it's already a done deal, you'll end up losing out to someone who is paying better attention.

For example, a carpet salesperson -- let's call her Jesse -- responds to a phone call from a young couple whom her manager says want new carpeting "yesterday." "All you have to do is help them pick a color," he says. So Jesse goes to the couple's home at two o'clock one afternoon, sits down over coffee, and starts showing carpet swatches, confident that within an hour she's going to be looking at a $200 commission. She's so confident, in fact, that she schedules an appointment with another couple, across-town, for three-thirty. This leaves plenty of time, she figures, to close the bluebird and connect with the second prospect. Because the first appointment is an automatic close, right?

Wrong. Not only has Jesse left insufficient time for the first couple to carefully consider all the color options, but her enthusiasm for the sale comes across less as high energy than as high anxiety: The couple feels so rushed to make a decision -- especially as three o'clock approaches -- that they start to shake their heads and look confused. Finally, they say, "We'll have to think about this for a couple of days." Jesse, who has no time to counter that stall, mumbles, "Well, OK," packs up her swatches, and rushes across town. The next day, when her manager calls her into his office, she finds out that the first couple has decided to take their business elsewhere.

That's only one scenario in which bad management can turn a bluebird into a lost opportunity, but it's typical of this blunder in two respects. You lose a sure thing when you (a) assume it's already a done deal and therefore (b) fail to give it the same focused attention that you give other opportunities. The extreme example is outright neglect of the customer -- like failing to return a phone call promptly because "he's already a lock."

Stephan Schiffman, author of The 25 Sales Habits of Highly Successful Salespeople, defines care and feeding of the "sure thing" his Habit #6. In converting the leads that "fall into your lap," he says, it's important to follow three simple steps:

One: Back off and establish a relationship. When you're dealing with a new face, "you don't know whether a brusque, let's-get-right-down-to-business, well-of-course-we-can-solve-your-problem approach is going to work. It may backfire spectacularly, and it often has."

Two: Before you go for the close, find out what's going on. Even the eager beaver prospect still may need generous amounts of tender loving care, and you'll never find that out if you rush to the finish.

Three: Unless you're in telemarketing, meet the prospect in person. "Even if the person tries to close the sale himself on the phone you need to establish a personal bond."

The bottom line of all three points, and of Jesse's story, is very simple: Don't assume. If you assume the deal is done before it really is, it's like forcing a bluebird into a cage. They don't like that.